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Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh

A frequent and welcome visitor is my very old friend, Nanak Kohli, often accompanied by Planning Commission member Syeda Hamid, whom I have also known and admired for many years. She and I share a great love for Urdu poetry, which somehow seems to go well with a large peg of single malt.

Gursharan Kaur released Songs of the Gurus (Penguin/Ravi Dayal) by Arpana Caur and me at Delhi’s Le Meridien. As expected, there was a large turnout, not because of the book but to have her darshan and hear her speak, writes Khushwant Singh.

There are many things in common between the mass violence against the Sikhs in 1984 and massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. If we had done the right thing in 1984, we would not have the same kind of thing repeated in 2002. Khushwant Singh elaborates.

I’m dodging the one fantasy which occupies more time than others: who’ll be living on 7, Race Course Road? Will the melodious voice of Gursharan Kaur singing Gurbani still be heard in the house every morning and evening? Or will it be occupied by LK Advani, Sharad Pawar or Mayawati or any of the others whose names are being tossed about like confetti at a wedding reception? Khushwant Singh examines...

All political parties have manifestos which spell out what they intend to do if they come into power, but once published, manifestos are put away in party archives to gather dust. They are taken out near the next election time, brought up-to-date and put back again, writes Khushwant Singh.

Three factors contributed to the spectacular performance of the Congress-led UPA in the recently concluded general elections. First and foremost, the general perception of Manmohan Singh as an able and honest PM. Second, the vigorous campaign conducted by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and others on issues that concerned the common people without trying to score brownie points against the conglomeration of opposition parties, writes Khushwant Singh.

Everyone of us has ideas on how we can liberate ourselves from the grinding poverty that has been the bane of our country. Over the years I have evolved a list of priorities which I would like to address to two groups of people because I believe that if they take them up seriously, we can change the face of India in the future, writes Khushwant Singh.

What I found most heartening about our new government is Rahul Gandhi’s decision to keep out of it. He has a much more important job in hand viz to keep his party on its toes, looking out for fresh blood and see that what the government promises is delivered to the people. Khushwant Singh writes.

On June 22nd, 2009, while the SHO of the Daryaganj police station was on leave, additional SHO Madan Lal ordered the weekly book bazaar to be closed. So is Sunday bazaar a histroy now? Mayank Austen Soofi investigates.

The very concept of reservations is based on the inability of some sections of the society to avail of opportunities open to them. And it is invariably at the expense of those who deserve them on merit, writes Khushwant Singh.